[Archived] Official: Paul Lambert Appointed Blackburn Rovers Manager

[deryck guyler's spoon]

So,to sum up, you're glad he's gone but you are concerned to preserve his rightful legacy(as you see it)?

Is that it in a nutshell?

A pithy and accurate summary of my position.Very perceptive.

[donnermeat]

Duffy and Hanley are our players of the season so far. A modern day Keeley and Fazackerley (and I'm being serious)

For the last 8 to 10 games they've been great, which is enough to be our best players this season. Says more about the rest of the squad than it does about them. Hope they keep it up, specifically Duffy from coming to try and nick it and failing, leaving massive space in behind, which happened numerous times more or less every game since he joined. Took him long enough.

[oldjamfan1]

For the last 8 to 10 games they've been great, which is enough to be our best players this season. Says more about the rest of the squad than it does about them. Hope they keep it up, specifically Duffy from coming to try and nick it and failing, leaving massive space in behind, which happened numerous times more or less every game since he joined. Took him long enough.

Big Keeley looked a liability when he first joined the club as well if I remember correctly. It takes CHs a few games to develop an understanding.

[donnermeat]

Big Keeley looked a liability when he first joined the club as well if I remember correctly. It takes CHs a few games to develop an understanding.

I'm well aware of developing an understanding. 12 months/few games neither here nor there. Granted Duffy suffered an injury towards then end of last season though to be fair. All in all I'm delighted with yeh way they are performing finally, long may it continue.

[JAL]

Attempting to reason with JAL can only lead to despair and despondency.

Next time your up you'll have to sit next to me and come and see what I see.

[47er]

A pithy and accurate summary of my position.Very perceptive.

Thanks for the compliment! I was trying to find a form of words to which we could all agree.

I'm happy to praise GB for the work he did when first appointed. I definitely think we could, probably would, have been relegated if another failure had been manager.

However GB never built on that first success and in the end we were back to the beginning ie in grave danger of relegation again.

Therefore the appointment of Lambert was a great advance and just the shot in the arm the Club needed.

So, if we can all agree on that, we can put this aspect of the thread to bed and need not refer to Bowyer anymore.

It has got tedious, divisive and repetitious (like Just a Minute!)

Everyone agreed?

Merry Christmas to all.

[deryck guyler's spoon]

Thanks for the compliment! I was trying to find a form of words to which we could all agree.

I'm happy to praise GB for the work he did when first appointed. I definitely think we could, probably would, have been relegated if another failure had been manager.

However GB never built on that first success and in the end we were back to the beginning ie in grave danger of relegation again.

Therefore the appointment of Lambert was a great advance and just the shot in the arm the Club needed.

So, if we can all agree on that, we can put this aspect of the thread to bed and need not refer to Bowyer anymore.

It has got tedious, divisive and repetitious (like Just a Minute!)

Everyone agreed?

Merry Christmas to all.

Agreed. I believe that your points are shared by the majority and, by and large, reflect my point of view. There are one or two however, who can't seem to resist dropping in 'hit and run' comments in regard to our previous manager. Until and unless they cut it out the whole tired debate will continue to recycle itself.

[ABBEY]

Duffy and Hanley are our players of the season so far. A modern day Keeley and Fazackerley (and I'm being serious)

To error prone for me is Duffy and distribution appalling , rather have killa there to be honest.

[Blue blood]

We did get Conway though for probably similar amounts to what we got for Judge and he's been as vital for us as Judge has to Brentford. Different player of course but I mean in the way we play, Judge wouldn't have developed into the player he has playing a bit part at Ewood and without Conway Rudy certainly wouldn't have become a 6 mill player.

Even I don't hold the Judge thing against Bowyer it's just one of those things, he wanted wingers and holding mids. Right idea but didn't work out effectively enough in the long run.

At the time I didn't but for all the wanting holding miss and wingers he did start his 1st caretaker spell AND his first game as manager with Rochina in the hole. Plan A seems to be a creative type behind Rhodes and we had the perfect player in Judge to do so. Instead we stuck him as a winger (as oppose to an attacking mid playing a bit narrower) where he was clearly out of his depth. A gift horse in mouth moment Imo.

[Doug]

The love in with judge is similar to the King love in, it begins when they have left!

Judge showed us nothing in a Blue and White shirt and I do not remember anybody saying the opposite whilst he was here.

King was injury prone, but, when fit he usually got a cameo substitute appearance on the wing for the last 20 mins.

There was a handful of posters that could see Kings potential as a CF.

The bottom line is that these things happen in football, how would Cardiff fans feel about Rudy and Conway for example?

[Blue blood]

The love in with judge is similar to the King love in, it begins when they have left!

Judge showed us nothing in a Blue and White shirt and I do not remember anybody saying the opposite whilst he was here.

King was injury prone, but, when fit he usually got a cameo substitute appearance on the wing for the last 20 mins.

There was a handful of posters that could see Kings potential as a CF.

The bottom line is that these things happen in football, how would Cardiff fans feel about Rudy and Conway for example?

Well given Judge was only played left midfield and played poorly, and fans were less aware of what he had done in a different division, it wasn't surprising many weren't too sorry to see him go (myself included.) However, when you see/hear/read of him week in, week out playing excellently in a position we badly need, fans can be forgiven for thinking we missed a trick with him.

As for Conway and Gestede I'd imagine the reactions would be quite different. Conway, whoops, error - he's always been consistent/decent at this level and fans probably are regretful they didn't get more out of him. Gestede - they'd be scratching their heads how on earth he turned into a heading monster that he was for us.

I get what you are saying though, not all players work out at a club and hindsight is wonderful thing. I agree. However in Judge's case I feel that Bowyer really didn't help himself by playing him in the wrong position. What made it even more galling was Rochina was injured so it wasn't a case of trying to accommodate them both in the same team - we had a system and position set up for the guy to succeed in. Hindsight should've been irrelevant in these circumstances.

[Amo]

The love in with judge is similar to the King love in, it begins when they have left!

Judge showed us nothing in a Blue and White shirt and I do not remember anybody saying the opposite whilst he was here.

King was injury prone, but, when fit he usually got a cameo substitute appearance on the wing for the last 20 mins.

There was a handful of posters that could see Kings potential as a CF.

The bottom line is that these things happen in football, how would Cardiff fans feel about Rudy and Conway for example?

That's simply not true. There were numerous posters who argued for King's inclusion because pace was in short supply.

As for Judge, I can only speak for myself but I wanted us to keep him. Along with Rochina, he was the only central playmaker we had in the side. The prevailing opinion seems to be that he was a pointless signing if Bowyer was never going to give him a fair crack of the whip.

[tomphil]

At the time I didn't but for all the wanting holding miss and wingers he did start his 1st caretaker spell AND his first game as manager with Rochina in the hole. Plan A seems to be a creative type behind Rhodes and we had the perfect player in Judge to do so. Instead we stuck him as a winger (as oppose to an attacking mid playing a bit narrower) where he was clearly out of his depth. A gift horse in mouth moment Imo.

Yeah that's fair enough although I'm not sure Bowyer was actually picking the team back then, not all of it anyway. Certain people would have wanted their players in the shop window and there always seemed to be a bit of accommodating going on in team selections at times.

He did try it again beginning of this season and certainly Judge would have done better than Marshall in the hole so your probably right they did miss a trick in the early days there.

[Doug]

Having just read through the 'summer transfers in and out' thread in 2014 I stand by my comments on the views on Judge.

[Mike E]

I'm absolutely certain I was pro Judge, regularly saying he should be Dunn's direct replacement instead of being shoved wide.

[den]

Having just read through the 'summer transfers in and out' thread in 2014 I stand by my comments on the views on Judge.

Ran around a lot, achieved very little. Isn't a winger, isn't a central midfielder - hence didn't have a position he could hold down. Why people thought he was good at Rovers, goodness knows.

[blueboy3333]

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/rovers/news/14167966.Paul_Lambert__Having_home_fans_at_one_end_will_help_Blackburn_Rovers/?ref=mac

Lambert on 'having all Rovers fans on one end'. I'd agree with him, the atmosphere really isn't helped anymore by having most of the singers on the DE. If they were on the BBE starting chants then more people around them on the BBE would be inclined to join in. Obviously Lambert will have some input on this so maybe the Rovers fans in the DE may be moved back to the BBE next season?

[Neal]

Ran around a lot, achieved very little. Isn't a winger, isn't a central midfielder - hence didn't have a position he could hold down. Why people thought he was good at Rovers, goodness knows.

Obviously didn't watch him at home to Boro, was a class above everyone else on the pitch.

[Stuart]

Ran around a lot, achieved very little. Isn't a winger, isn't a central midfielder - hence didn't have a position he could hold down. Why people thought he was good at Rovers, goodness knows.

The fact is he had so much potential which was ignored by, or unable to be seen or developed by, the guy who is getting so much credit for his ability to spot a player.

We are now desperate to sign someone of Judge's quality in a central position when we already had the best one. Instead we had to put up with Williamson and Lowe game after game because they were steady players who did not go forward. Anyone creative was shunted out to the wings in a bid to somehow bypass the centre of the park yet we never really played with any real width. It's quite bizarre really.

[den]

Obviously didn't watch him at home to Boro, was a class above everyone else on the pitch.

I've watched him in the youths, first time in the first team and under Bowyer. I stand by what I said.

The fact is he had so much potential which was ignored by, or unable to be seen or developed by, the guy who is getting so much credit for his ability to spot a player.

We are now desperate to sign someone of Judge's quality in a central position when we already had the best one. Instead we had to put up with Williamson and Lowe game after game because they were steady players who did not go forward. Anyone creative was shunted out to the wings in a bid to somehow bypass the centre of the park yet we never really played with any real width. It's quite bizarre really.

He created next to nothing Stuart, that's why he was dropped then released - twice.

[Amo]

We are now desperate to sign someone of Judge's quality in a central position when we already had the best one. Instead we had to put up with Williamson and Lowe game after game because they were steady players who did not go forward.

That's on the money, Stu. We keep hearing how the likes of King & Judge were given a chance by Bowyer and weren't good enough, but conveniently ignore his obduracy when it came to playing underperformers like Lowe, Williamson, & Hanley.

[patrickvalery]

One of the mysteries for me about Bowyer was his sudden and definitive shift to 4-4-2, when i distinctly recall him starting out (against Derby i think) with three up top. Judge, Rhodes and Rochina. Those front three were really good that match and that was a formation which would have extracted the best from Judge. Then, for some reason we went to a 4-4-2 and effectively ended Judge's time here.

He's a real talent. I don't think you'd find many Brentford fans willing to fritter him away as we did. But sadly we were never likely to see the best of him because we weren't set up in a way to incorporate him. Its a similar argument with Rhodes.

I don't mind what direction Lambert wants us to go in (stylistically speaking). But for heavens sake, sign players who are fit for purpose. I'm sick of seeing either good players shoe-horned in to a system which they'll never contribute fully to. Or bad players picked because they can contribute to the desired system but rarely win their personal battles on the pitch.

[den]

He's a real talent. I don't think you'd find many Brentford fans willing to fritter him away as we did. But sadly we were never likely to see the best of him because we weren't set up in a way to incorporate him. Its a similar argument with Rhodes.

We should have set up a team to incorporate Judge? No Patrick. Set up a team to incorporate Alan Shearer maybe, but not Alan Judge. However - good players get into the team however they're set up.

[blueboy3333]

That's on the money, Stu. We keep hearing how the likes of King & Judge were given a chance by Bowyer and weren't good enough, but conveniently ignore his obduracy when it came to playing underperformers like Lowe, Williamson, & Hanley.

It's nowhere near the money. Judge is not a CM and never has been, especially as part of a 2. We should have kept him though and given him a chance with a prolonged run of games. Brentford's style probably suits him a lot more than the rigid 4-4-2 we played under Bowyer and which Lambert seems to be continuing.

[Amo]

It's nowhere near the money. Judge is not a CM and never has been, especially as part of a 2. We should have kept him though and given him a chance with a prolonged run of games. Brentford's style probably suits him a lot more than the rigid 4-4-2 we played under Bowyer and which Lambert seems to be continuing.

Are you saying Judge would've done a worse job in CM than either of Willowe?